Nancy Larson’s uncommitted no longer. After weeks of moving ever closer to Barack Obama, the superdelegate from Dassel announced Sunday, at an Obama rally in Minneapolis, that she is now committed to Obama. Larson, who had said she would wait until after the Pennsylvania primary, said it had become impossible to be coy about whom she would support.
Larson followed through with her pledge to inform the campaigns of her decision before making a public announcement. Almost immediately after contacting the Clinton campaign, Larson received a call from Chelsea Clinton.
“Do you know how hard that was?” Larson said of that conversation. “She wondered why I was going this way, and I had to explain why I wasn’t supporting her mother. There were so many little reasons.”
At the invitation of Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Larson made her announcement at an Obama rally at the Abilene Bar in Uptown.
Rybak, an early Obama supporter, had met with Larson a few days before Sunday’s event. Laughing, Larson said she was billed as a “surprise guest” at the event, which attracted more than 500 people.
“My husband (Merrill) says, ‘You’re going to be the surprise?’ ” she said.
Only U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson remains uncommitted among the 14 Minnesota superdelegates. Three remain committed to Clinton; 10 support Obama. Two more superdelegates will be selected at the DFL state convention. Given the makeup of the convention, they almost certainly will be Obama supporters.
